Sermon and Worship Resources

Synonyms: touch, feel, sense of touch, tactile sense, tactility, contact, using one's hands, sensation, sense, suspicion, sneaking suspicion, notion, inkling, hunch, fancy, apprehension, presentiment, premonition, foreboding, love, care, affection, fondness, tenderness, warmth, warmness, emotion, sentiment, emotional state, compassion, sympathy, empathy, fellow feeling, understanding, concern, solicitude, solicitousness, tender-heartedness, brotherly love, sensibilities, sensitivities, self-esteem, ego, pride, opinion, belief, view, impression, intuition, instinct, estimation, guess, theory, hypothesis, thought, way of thinking, point of view, atmosphere, ambience, aura, air, mood, climate, character, overtone, undertone, tenor, spirit, quality, flavour, colour, aptitude, knack, flair, bent, talent, gift, skill, art, trick, faculty, ability, propensity, inclination, sensitive, warm, warm-hearted, tender, tender-hearted, caring, soft-hearted, sympathetic, compassionate, empathetic, responsive, receptive, intuitive, thoughtful

Antonyms: bad feeling, acrimony, animosity, animus, antagonism, antipathy, aversion, bitterness, detestation, disgust, dislike, disrelish, enmity, friction, grievances, grudges, hatred, hostility, loathing, malevolence, malice

Showing 476 to 500 of 1913 results

476. Overseers and Deacons

1 Timothy 3:1-16

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

Qualifications for Overseers To this point, Paul has addressed some concerns related to the community at worship and corrected some abuses generated by the activities of the erring elders. Now he turns to the elders themselves and sets forth some qualifications for “office.” He begins, in verses 1–7, with a group called episkopoi (“overseers”); then moves in verses 8–13 to a group called diakonoi (“servants,” “deacons”), with a note also about some “women” in verse 11. It is altogether likely that both “ ...

477. What Must Be Taught to Various Groups

Titus 2:1-15

Understanding Series

Gordon D. Fee

Instructions for Groups of Believers Although this section has affinities to several passages in both the PE and the rest of the NT, the material nonetheless appears here in a unique way. It picks up the framework of 1 Timothy 5:1–2, where people are grouped by age and sex, and in verses 2–8 fleshes out some details, not in terms of Titus’ relationship to them but of their own attitudes and conduct. The language of the details echoes that used for the overseers, deacons, and women in 1 Timothy 3:1–13 and 2 ...

478. Family in the New Kingdom Community

Mark 10:13-16, Mark 10:1-12

Teach the Text

Grant R. Osborne

Big Idea: The emphasis here is on family life in the new kingdom community. Jesus states that the easy-divorce policy advocated by many rabbis was not God’s will, and that divorce was allowed only because of their stubborn sin. He further teaches that children are models for kingdom living; to enter life with God, all must have a childlike faith. Understanding the Text There is both geographical and thematic movement in this section. Geographically, Jesus continues south, moving through Galilee and across ...

479. Family Ties and Good-byes

Mark 3:31-35

Sermon

Ron Lavin

Jesus experienced family ties and good-byes. So do we. According to Mark 3:20-35, Jesus was about to be confronted by his frustrated and conflicted family as crowds gathered around him to hear his stories, behold his miracles, and observe with great interest the conflicts he had with religious leaders from Jerusalem. Conflict. But there were also good, tender, and beautiful joys in Jesus' family. Look at the tenderness at the time of his birth. Good-byes and ties. All families have stress, as well as ...

480. Dance of Love

John 14:5-14, John 14:1-4

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Space is what keeps the world in balance. Everything, even molecules, have space between them. Space is what defines matter. Without space, individual quantities of matter don’t exist. Our sense of self, our individualism, our sense of community, our sense of reality, our sense of who we are in relationship to others, is all dependent upon space. You may notice, now that you’ve been in quarantine for about two and a half months, that you are either seeking more or less space, depending upon your situation ...

481. The Hidden City

John 3:1-17

Sermon

Lori Wagner

Caspar David Friedrich: Wanderer in a Sea of Fog The artist Caspar David Friedrich is known for his ethereal, spiritual, otherworldly-looking paintings. In order to grasp the meaning of his art, one needs to contemplate the visuals, noting the colors, shades, objects, and the location of the figure, among other noticeable details. For example, the painting above, called “Wanderer in a Sea of Fog,” lacks clarity. The fog, in the title and in the painting, obscures vision with misty white. The man appears to ...

482. The View from Cloud Nine

Luke 9:28-36

Sermon

Lori Wagner

We as human beings have always been fascinated by clouds. Looking upward, how many of us have spent time lying on our backs on a grassy bank staring at the clouds. As children we’ve looked for shapes in the cloud formations and have imagined what it would be like to soar to the clouds, to touch their seemingly “fluffy” nature, to lie down in their soft, wispy warmth. In cartoons, we wistfully imagine sitting in the clouds, soaking up the view, as though they were a luxurious bed of soft, billowy cotton. In ...

483. The Results Of Resurrection

John 20:19-23

Sermon

Don M. Aycock

Suppose you had just said goodbye to someone you love. If so, you would know the feeling of remorse encapsulating Jesus' disciples after his death. Those disciples were left in a state of total chaos. All along Jesus had tried to make them see that his presence among them was only temporary. He had given them clues about his destiny with such words as You will seek me and you will not find me; where I am you cannot come, and The light is with you for a little longer. Even with these words, however, those ...

484. The Highest In The Lowest

Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20

Sermon

John A. Stroman

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. -- Luke 2:8-9 During a cold winter's night in Bethlehem in the Judean hills, the pains of childbirth came upon Mary. She appears as one more human figure in the eternal agony of motherhood amid the harsh, hard conditions of the ancient world. We must not forget the stark realism of the brutally ...

485. The Word Jesus Spoke

John 2:13-22

Sermon

Elaine M. Ward

When the Israelites heard the first word of the Law in the Ten Commandments, so the old rabbinical story goes, they swooned. Their souls left them. So the word returned to God and cried out, "O Sovereign of the Universe, you live eternally and your Law lives eternally. But you have sent me to the dead. They are all dead!" Thereupon God had mercy and made his word more palatable.1 God told a story. Our sacred story for today said that they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. Long ...

486. Easter Sunday

John 20:1-9

Bulletin Aid

H. Burnham Kirkland

Call To Worship Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Glory and honor, dominion and power be to God for ever and ever. Christ is risen! Alleluia! Invocation God of life, the women came to the tomb on the first day of the week, hands laden with the spices of sadness. So we come this morning, hearts broken by the sin of the world. You met them in resurrection power, and sent them running down the path to tell others that the tomb was empty. Meet us this morning in our songs and story, in scripture and ...

487. Watchman, Tell Us Of The Night

Isaiah 21:11-12

Sermon

David O. Bales

To strangers the plains of Eastern Montana seem barren, especially in late autumn. The horizon appears endlessly flat, and only occasionally above the plain a low row of hills pushes up -- sometimes just a large bump of ground. Homesteaders built a small frame church upon one such rise, and it has stood since 1912, spared prairie fires, but not free from time's toll. For safety the steeple was removed and the roof sags six inches in the middle of the span. But every season and every week, worship is held. ...

488. Moving At The Speed Of Light: On The Mountain

2 Peter 1:12-21

Sermon

Frank Luchsinger

Peter went to the mountain with Jesus. And what happened there was of such magnitude that decades after the resurrection, it still was of bedrock importance to Peter's witness for Christ. We know the story. Peter and James and John went with Jesus up to a high place, apart from the others. And while they were there Jesus' appearance before them changed. They saw him stand with Moses and Elijah. As Matthew describes, "His face shown like the sun, and his garments became white as light." Peter offered to ...

489. Epiphany 4

Lk 4:21-30 · 1 Cor 13:1-13 · Jer 1:4-10 · Ps 71

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Old Testament: Jeremiah 1:4-10 Even before his birth Jeremiah was appointed a prophet. Jeremiah tells us of his call to preach. It came at the time Josiah was king of Judah (c. 627 B.C.). His call came as a dialogue with Yahweh who even before Jeremiah's birth knew that he was destined to be a prophet. In this dialogue he heard the voice of Yahweh and felt his hand on his lips. There was no human initiative in the call. The words he was to speak were totally the Lord's words. The message he was ...

490. Proper 5

Lk 7:11-17 · Gal 1:11-24 · 1 Ki 17:17-24

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

THE LESSONS 1 Kings 17:17-24 Through prayer Elijah restores a child to life. For the next five Sundays, Lesson 1 focuses upon the great prophet, Elijah, whose name means, "Yahweh is my God." He is the champion of Yahweh, and as the representative of the prophets, appeared at the Transfiguration. To understand today's pericope, one needs to know the context. Because Ahab, King of Israel, turned to pagan gods, a severe drought came upon the land. After the brooks dried up, Yahweh sends Elijah to a pagan ...

491. Running Around The Empty Tomb

John 20:1-9

Sermon

Thomas Long

According to the Gospel of John, the very earliest response to the event of the resurrection was not praise, stark terror, ecstatic dancing, paralyzed fear, unbridled joy, speechless astonishment, or exultant song -- but running. Yes, running. In the early morning hours of the first day of the week, as it begins to crack across human consciousness that something utterly unexpected and world-shifting has occurred out there in the garden cemetery, the first people who experience this event react by running ...

492. The Highest In The Lowest

Luke 2:8-20, Luke 2:1-7

Sermon

John A. Stroman

During a cold winter's night in Bethlehem in the Judean hills, the pains of childbirth came upon Mary. She appears as one more human figure in the eternal agony of motherhood amid the harsh, hard conditions of the ancient world. We must not forget the stark realism of the brutally human aspects of this birth. This loving and heavenly atmosphere faced tragic and difficult times. Look closely, for this that surrounds Mary and Joseph is a parable about life with all of its heavenly and human qualities. It is ...

493. Illusion Or Reality?

Sermon

Harold Warlick

Back in the mid 1970s to early 1980s hypnosis was viewed as a major cure for many of society's ills. If you had a problem with being overweight, smoking cigarettes, drinking too much, or being a juvenile delinquent, many professional hypnotists would, for a hefty fee, offer their services to hypnotize your problems away. The church I pastored in Texas at the time contained among its members some overweight women with a passion for improving their bodies. These women had apparently tried everything they ...

494. Of Seeing and Hearing

Mark 7:31-37

Sermon

Thomas Peterson

A jungle tribe walks down a path. They come upon a man lying beside the path with mushroom stems around him. The chief asks the youth, “What do you see?” One young man replies, “A man dead.” “What else?” “Mushroom pieces.” “Well, but what do you see?” the chief repeats. The answer comes back. “A man dead and mushroom pieces.” The chief grows impatient, “I mean what do you see?” The youth look puzzled. The face of one brightens, “Oh, the mushroom must be poisonous and that’s what killed him.” The light had ...

495. See the Light, Be the Light

Matthew 5:13-16

Sermon

Johnny Dean

You have come today, as most of you regularly do, to worship God. You’ve come to pray, to hear the reading of Scripture, to sing songs of praise, and to be reassured by the presence of your neighbor. But there may be an additional reason many of you have come today, one that you may or may not be aware of: curiosity. What hymns will we sing today? Will they be the old standards the church has been singing for a thousand years or will the preacher or the choir director try to make us learn one that was ...

496. Nervous Hands

Psalm 139:1-24

Sermon

All of us at some point have been so nervous that it was obvious to everyone - our knees shook, our hands trembled. It's happened to every one of us. I remember one incident in particular in my own life. It was the first time I ever assisted with Communion. I was a Lay Minister. It was my installation, and I was to assist in distributing Communion. My hands shook so badly in trying to pass out the bread that I'm quite certain that everyone who received a wafer had to shake his head to catch my hand. I was ...

497. Epiphany 4

Lk 4:21-30 · 1 Cor 13:1-13 · Jer 1:4-10

Sermon Aid

John R. Brokhoff

COMMENTARY Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19 (RC) Even before his birth Jeremiah was appointed a prophet. Jeremiah tells us of his call to preach. It came at the time Josiah was king of Judah (ca. 627 BC). It came as a dialogue with Yahweh who even before his birth was destined to be a prophet. In this dialogue he heard the voice of Yahweh and felt his hand on his lips. There was no human initiative in the call. The words he was to speak were totally the Lord's words. The message he was to proclaim was one of judgment ...

498. The Miracle Comes at the Breaking

Luke 24:13-35

Sermon

Various Authors

Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. (v. 35) After his resurrection, Jesus promised that he would be with us everywhere. We can be assured and conscious of his presence in the private place of prayer, but also the rush of daily routines, including a classroom or a crowded restaurant; or even in the midst of a rabid crowd at a sports event. But without a doubt there are circumstances and settings where we are more likely to meet our Lord, ...

499. The Excitement of Meaningful Living

John 10:10 · Matthew 6:33 · Ephesians 3:20

Sermon

Robert G. Tuttle

When Jesus said, "My yoke is easy," he was telling it like it is. This caring, this moral commitment, this faith and obedience we have been talking about are really not a burden upon the life of the individual. All these dimensions of life, when inspired by the Holy Spirit, are generators of strength and purpose. In this way personal life finds its wholeness and completeness, and this is what Jesus meant by saying, "I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly." It is a joyful thing. This is ...

500. On Leaving Your Signature

Revelation 22:1-6

Sermon

Allan J. Weenink

The first signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, said, when he wrote his name to the great historic document, "They may not know who I am, but they will not forget my signature." Then, with a flourish, he wrote his name at the head of the list with such bold and precise strokes that, from that time forward, the name of John Hancock has become synonymous with the word, "signature." However, when we think of the word, "signature," we are aware of more ...

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